There are a variety of solid pharmaceutical dosage forms that rapidly dissolve or disintegrate in a glass of water or in the gastrointestinal tract. Such dosage forms have been known in the art for many years. The obvious advantages of the convenience of carrying dosage forms that will dissolve or effervesce in water to release medicaments are well known. The therapeutic need of having an oral dosage form that will rapidly dissolve or disintegrate in the mouth for situations where immediate medication is necessary and water is not available has long been recognized.
Initially, a distinction must be drawn between flash-melt dosage forms and rapidly disintegrating dosage forms. The former are intended to dissolve or disintegrate in the mouth of the patient in less than one minute whereas the latter are intended for primary dissolution or disintegration within 3 to 20 minutes in the acidic medium of the stomach or a container of water. The recognized test for rapidly disintegrating dosage forms is disintegration time in 0.1N hydrochloric acid. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the requirements for formulating dosage forms to meet these criteria must necessarily be different since the conditions, particularly pH, in the mouth and the stomach are quite different. More importantly, the time in which a dosage form must dissolve or disintegrate in the mouth is necessarily much shorter than in the stomach with the obvious exception of dosage forms, e.g. lozenges, that are specifically formulated to slowly dissolve in the mouth.
Another consideration common to most if not all dosage form formulations intended for flash-melt or rapid disintegration is the need to take precautions in the preparation, packaging, handling and storing of the finished dosage forms since they tend to be both hygroscopic and friable. Dosage forms dependent on effervescence to promote their disintegration are particularly susceptible to moisture and must be packaged with special wrapping, stoppers, packets of drying agent and the like.
Regardless of such potential problems, there is still an acute need for dosage forms that can rapidly dissolve or disintegrate for the obvious benefits of having a therapeutic dosage of the medicament contained therein available for absorption in a very short time. In addition to the benefits of rapid availability, flash-melt dosage forms are advantageous for administration of medicaments to patients such as the very young, the elderly, the non-compliant and those with a physical impairment that makes it difficult if not impossible to swallow an intact dosage form. Flash-melt dosage forms are further a convenience for situations where potable water may not be readily available or desirable. Medicaments amenable to such dosage forms would include sedatives, hypnotics, antipsychotics, motion sickness medication, mild stimulants such as caffeine and the like.
Those of ordinary skill in the art are aware that there are two basic compounding concepts recognized for the preparation of rapidly dissolving/disintegrating dosage forms. The first of these, particularly suited for the preparation of flash-melt dosage forms, is freeze drying wherein a cake or wafer is prepared from a freeze-dried solution or suspension of medicament and suitable excipients in water or other solvents. Such wafers dissolve very rapidly on the tongue, i.e. within about ten seconds, due to a combination of a high affinity for moisture resulting from the freeze drying process and a very high porosity, which promotes rapid ingress of saliva. While such dosage forms are capable of rapid disintegration/dissolution in the mouth, the freeze drying process suffers from several disadvantages, primary among which is the fact that a solution or a stable suspension of the medicament must be formed before it can be freeze dried. While not always the case, typically such solutions are aqueous and, therefore, not suited to formulating medicaments sensitive to water. The process itself is typically laborious and time-consuming. Finally, the resultant dosage forms, in addition to being hygroscopic, tend to be very soft and, therefore, require special moisture- and impact-resistant packaging and require careful handling prior to administration.
The second major technology utilized in the manufacture of rapidly disintegrating dosage forms is based on special grades of sugars such as mannitol, sorbitol and the like in combination with superdisintegrants. The latter are excipients that are characterized by a special wicking capacity to channel water into the interior of the dosage form, or by rapid swelling in water, both of which act to hasten disintegration. It is also known to enhance dissolution of dosage forms by the inclusion of effervescent combinations, typically sodium bicarbonate and a weak acid, such as citric acid. As noted above, effervescent formulations require special moisture resistant packaging as even very small levels of moisture may be sufficient to initiate the effervescent reaction. Techniques, such as fluidized bed granulation, are recognized as being useful in the preparation of such formulations. Too often, however, such technologies require a specific, very costly plant including special handling equipment, controlled-humidity environments and the like. In spite of such measures, dosage forms produced by such techniques typically require moisture resistant packaging, the need to include in the packaging packets or capsules of moisture absorbing agents and the like.
An example of a teaching of the incorporation of super disintegrants in dosage form formulations to enhance dissolution is WO 98/03064, FMC Corporation. It is disclosed therein that, for cost considerations, up to 90% of a group of super disintegrants including cross-linked cellulose, cross-linked carboxymethyl cellulose, cross-linked starch, croscarmellose alkali metal salt, crospovidone, alkali metal starch glycolate and the like can be replaced by a co-disintegrant. Included among the latter group are natural diatomaceous silica, a synthetic hydrous alkaline earth metal calcium silicate and a porous hydrophilic zeolite. The weight ratio of super disintegrant to co-disintegrant is stated as from 4:1 to 1:10, preferably 2-1:1. There is no indication of any recognition of benefits to be derived from the formulation other than the obvious consideration of cost savings since the co-disintegrants are less expensive and the combination is stated to accomplish the desired results.
In contrast, Japanese patent 10114655, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo KK discloses a formulation intended for rapid dissolution in the stomach that can contain up to 30% by weight of a superdisintegrant, such as crospovidone or hydroxypropylcellulose, croscarmellose and the like and up to 30% of a neutral or basic ingredient including magnesium aluminum metasilicate, calcium silicate, a phosphoric acid salt or a metal hydroxide. The dosage form is intended for medicaments that produce a gel at acidic pH.
There are numerous other examples of specific formulations that utilize one or more of the techniques or mechanisms discussed above. For the most part, however, they also possess one or more of the enumerated disadvantages to some degree, e.g. it is difficult or expensive to produce dosage forms by such techniques, the resulting dosage forms are friable or are sensitive to environmental factors such as moisture. There continues to be the need for a formulation that mitigates or eliminates these disadvantages, yet yields a flash-melt dosage form that will disintegrate in the mouth within about 25 seconds. Such formulations are provided in accordance with the present invention.